Project Details
Description
The question of integrating transgender athletes into their affirmed gender categories is becoming more prominent with sports governing bodies portraying mixed messaging when it comes to answering this question.
Testosterone is beneficial to baseline sports performance, and it has been suggested that the differences in circulating testosterone concentrations between cisgender men and cisgender women explain most of the baseline differences in sports performance between the two groups.
However, a secondary factor relative to sports performance is the physiological re-distribution of fat mass driven by gender-affirming hormone treatment (GAHT) and the loss of/gain of muscle mass with GAHT in both trans women and trans men and their effects on transgender sporting performance.
Previous studies lack data on sports performance measures outside muscular strength and performance measures such as aerobic capacity, power and strength should be studied in tandem within an athletic cohort of trans women and trans men and compared with cisgender women and cisgender male athletes to ascertain whether any lasting advantages are present. New sports performance data on transgender athletes must be generated to inform a decision-making process to inform if the current policies in place are accurate or inexact to maintain fairness and the integrity of sport.
Data, from Alvares et al., has shown that when you divide these measures for fat-free mass between cisgender men and cisgender females, the outcome is exactly the same. However, when you divide trans women performance measures by their fat-free mass, they come below both cisgender males and females.
This research aims to confirm this previous novel data while also including the performance measures of trans men, and the gold standard for anthropometry of DXA scanning, which Alvares did not use in the study to provide a clear justification or nullification of this hypothesis.
Testosterone is beneficial to baseline sports performance, and it has been suggested that the differences in circulating testosterone concentrations between cisgender men and cisgender women explain most of the baseline differences in sports performance between the two groups.
However, a secondary factor relative to sports performance is the physiological re-distribution of fat mass driven by gender-affirming hormone treatment (GAHT) and the loss of/gain of muscle mass with GAHT in both trans women and trans men and their effects on transgender sporting performance.
Previous studies lack data on sports performance measures outside muscular strength and performance measures such as aerobic capacity, power and strength should be studied in tandem within an athletic cohort of trans women and trans men and compared with cisgender women and cisgender male athletes to ascertain whether any lasting advantages are present. New sports performance data on transgender athletes must be generated to inform a decision-making process to inform if the current policies in place are accurate or inexact to maintain fairness and the integrity of sport.
Data, from Alvares et al., has shown that when you divide these measures for fat-free mass between cisgender men and cisgender females, the outcome is exactly the same. However, when you divide trans women performance measures by their fat-free mass, they come below both cisgender males and females.
This research aims to confirm this previous novel data while also including the performance measures of trans men, and the gold standard for anthropometry of DXA scanning, which Alvares did not use in the study to provide a clear justification or nullification of this hypothesis.
Key findings
Strength, power and aerobic capacity of transgender athletes: a cross-sectional study. Hamilton, B., Brown, A., Montagner-Moraes, S., Comeras-Chueca, C., Bush, P. G., Guppy, F. M. & Pitsiladis, Y. P., 10 Apr 2024, In: British Journal of Sports Medicine. 58, 11, p. 586-597 12 p.
Position statement: IOC framework on fairness, inclusion and non-discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations
Martowicz, M., Budgett, R., Pape, M., Mascagni, K., Engebretsen, L., Dienstbach-Wech, L., Pitsiladis, Y. P., Pigozzi, F. & Erdener, U., 16 Dec 2022, In: British Journal of Sports Medicine. 57, 1, p. 26-32 7 p.
Joint Position Statement of the International Federation of Sports Medicine (FIMS) and European Federation of Sports Medicine Associations (EFSMA) on the IOC Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination based on gender identity and sex variations. Pigozzi, F., Bigard, X., Steinacker, J. M., Wolfarth, B., Badtievaoka, V., Schneider, C., Swart, J., Bilzon, J. L. J., Constantinou, D., Dohi, M., Di Luigi, L., Fossati, C., Bachl, N., Li, G., Papadopoulou, T., Casasco, M., Janse van Rensburg, D. C., Jean-François, K., Rozenstoka, S. & Casajus, J. A. & 18 others, , 18 Jan 2022, In: BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine.
Position statement: IOC framework on fairness, inclusion and non-discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex variations
Martowicz, M., Budgett, R., Pape, M., Mascagni, K., Engebretsen, L., Dienstbach-Wech, L., Pitsiladis, Y. P., Pigozzi, F. & Erdener, U., 16 Dec 2022, In: British Journal of Sports Medicine. 57, 1, p. 26-32 7 p.
Joint Position Statement of the International Federation of Sports Medicine (FIMS) and European Federation of Sports Medicine Associations (EFSMA) on the IOC Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination based on gender identity and sex variations. Pigozzi, F., Bigard, X., Steinacker, J. M., Wolfarth, B., Badtievaoka, V., Schneider, C., Swart, J., Bilzon, J. L. J., Constantinou, D., Dohi, M., Di Luigi, L., Fossati, C., Bachl, N., Li, G., Papadopoulou, T., Casasco, M., Janse van Rensburg, D. C., Jean-François, K., Rozenstoka, S. & Casajus, J. A. & 18 others, , 18 Jan 2022, In: BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine.
| Status | Finished |
|---|---|
| Effective start/end date | 10/01/22 → 1/04/24 |
Funding
- International Olympic Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland
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